It Isn't Over Yet
by luvmonkey1313
Summary: After nearly twenty years of not seeing each other, the seven decide to get together in New Rome. However, things are different. Now they have kids. Helena Jackson is new to everything, Collin Zhang is confused, and Jessica Grace is just plain scared. A new threat arises, and the legacies have no choice but to work together to stop it. (On hiatus)
1. Chapter 1

Helena POV

Below me sped car after car, racing along the highway. Pedestrians strolled down the cramped street and colorful umbrellas were put up as the drizzle of rain began to get stronger. Large buses crawled down the side of the road. Bikers rolled past the continuing traffic.

New York.

Home sweet home.

I jumped off my window seat and crossed my bedroom, picking up a pamphlet off my bed as I did so. Taking a seat at my desk, I unfolded the flyer. **CAMP TREBLE,** it read. Below the bold title was a picture of a girl standing on a stage with a microphone in her hand. I sighed longingly. That was exactly where I wanted to be right now: away from this cramped apartment, in a decorated cabin at Camp Treble.

I attended Camp Treble every summer. In other words, I was pretty much a veteran. It was a camp for aspiring music stars, teenagers who wanted to become famous one day. There we wrote songs and prepared for the talent show at the end of the year. The winner of the talent show got a recording contract and a huge silver trophy. I've been going for five summers now, and I've never won. I intend to change that this year.

All year long I've been preparing for this. I finally convinced my parents to let me take guitar lessons, in addition to the violin I've been learning since I was six. I also taught myself piano a couple years back. My friend Ashley's mom is a vocal coach, and she let me take lessons for free. As well as all the instruments, I've been busy writing songs. My goal is to write one song a month, which leaves me with twelve songs since I last visited camp. I can't wait to perform them to my friends at camp!

And of course, every year I look forward to this to get away from my family. My little brother, Ethan, is a nuisance. Twelve years old and already super cocky, the two of us did not get along well.

I strode over to my mirror and stared at my reflection. I had long and thick black hair that fell in waves down my back. My gray eyes seemed dull and empty. I was average height, nothing special.

Speaking of appearance, my hair was a mess. I was about to reach for my hairbrush when a blondheaded pest burst into _my bedroom_ and snatched the brush off my dresser.

"Ethan!"

Now, okay, I know it's just a hairbrush, but still . . . it was going to be _so_ awesome when I won't have to deal with my little brother.

I ran down the hall of our small apartment and burst into the kitchen. The smell of chocolate chip pancakes reached my nose. Scratch that. The smell of _burning_ chocolate chip pancakes reached my nose.

"_Percy!" _cried my mom as she raced into the kitchen. Dad whirled around, his face red and his hair a mess. It was obvious he had just crawled out of bed.

Ethan was cracking up. My hairbrush was in his hand. When he saw me glaring at him, he grinned and waved it around. I rolled my eyes.

"Percy, why are you making breakfast?" demanded Mom.

"Uhhh . . . 'Cause I wanted to do something for you? I mean, you make every single meal . . ." Dad's voice drifted off at the sight of Mom's stormy gray eyes.

I was waiting for Mom to explode, but her expression softened. She said, "There's a reason I do the cooking, Seaweed Brain." The she crossed the cramped kitchen and gave him a swift kiss before taking over the pancakes.

Soon we were all eating the pancakes (though they were pretty darn crispy). Everything seemed totally okay until the rainbow appeared.

"Percy Jackson! Where in the name of Jupiter _are_ you?"

We all jumped. Dad whipped around, and there, floating in midair, was the top half of a blond man. I screamed. I mean, it's not every day some random dude shows up in your kitchen.

"Jason!" exclaimed Mom. "What are you –"

"Hi, Annabeth," said the man, who apparently A) knew my mom, B) was named Jason, and C) had a way with magic rainbows.

"What – who – why – " spluttered Ethan.

"Hello, Ethan," said Jason. "You look just like Percy."

Okay, I'm officially creeped out.

Jason's electric blue eyes turned to meet Percy's sea green ones, and he repeated, "Where. Are. You?"

Dad looked really confused. Meanwhile, Ethan was aiming to throw his fork at the picture of Jason to see if it would go through. He had a wild look in his deep green eyes and his blond curls dangled over his forehead.

"So, who are you again?" I asked Jason, whose mouth dropped open.

I looked at Dad, who was bright red, and then Mom, who was as pale as a sheet. Yeah, something a little weird was going on.

Jason looked Mom in the eye and asked incredulously, "You haven't told them yet?"

No response.

He laughed. "Gods of Olympus, no wonder you're late. We told Jess when she was, what, seven?"

"Told us what?" I asked slowly.

Jason just chuckled in an infuriating way. "Oh, I'll leave that up to your parents. But Percy, get down here. You're two days late."

Dad just nodded. It was then that Ethan chose to chuck his silverware at the hazy image of Jason, which immediately dissipated.

"Ethan!" scolded Mom.

"What's going on?!" I asked. "If someone doesn't tell me what's going on _right now, _I swear I will do - something . . ."

Mom just shook her head. Never in all my life have I seen my mother so speechless. She always seemed to know exactly what to do and say, but now . . . she was at a loss for words.

Dad stood up and stared out the window. After almost five minutes of us staring at him in complete silence, he turned around and said, "I'm a demigod."


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Hey guys! I totally forgot to do this on the last chapter. Just wanted to say thanks to everyone who reviewed/followed/favorited this story. I also wanted to give a huge shout-out to my awesome friend Sam, who was generous enough to let me split this account with her. So without further ado, on to the story!**

**Disclaimer: As you may have guessed, I'm not Rick Riordan. Sorry.**

* * *

Leo POV

I gazed out to the rolling hills. Everything seemed so perfect, so serene. A gentle wind brushed by me, ruffling my hair. I stood leaning against the door frame of my small house, hands in my pockets and feet crossed. As I looked on to the large space of land beyond me, I could see three figures off in the distance. They ran around and chased each other, their screams of delight faint in the wind.

I sighed and turned around to go back into the house/workshop that I had built for myself. It was literally in the middle of nowhere. Everybody always asked why I chose to live on a hot, windy plain in the middle of Texas, but I had no response. I guess after the Giant War, I needed space to myself. Unfortunately, I had company today.

Speaking of company, one of the three figures was now racing towards me. Her hair was flying and her small legs were moving as fast as they could. As she neared me, I could see tears running down her chocolate colored cheeks.

"What's the matter, Emily Marie?" I asked her.

She sniffed loudly and then replied, "Collin took my doll and he won't give it back!"

I took a deep breath and then took the problem as an excuse to look up. I tried to look anywhere but at the eight year old girl. Emily Marie Zhang was the spitting image of her mother. She had brown curls everywhere and warm skin. Heck, she even smelled like her mother. But the most frightening thing about it all was her eyes. They were gold - a burning gold. In other words, she looked just like the girl I once loved.

Hazel Levesque.

"Leo?" sniffed Emily Marie. "Make Collin give Dolly back!"

I started to walk across the long grass to the two boys still out on the hill. As I neared them, I could make out which was which. The shorter of the two resembled his father. With cropped black hair, a pale face, and dark eyes, it was hard to believe that he and Emily Marie were siblings. As much as he looked like Frank, Hazel had chosen a strange name for him.

Sammy.

Yeah, I don't understand either. Honestly, I have no idea why Frank was okay with that. The thirteen year old looked nothing like Sammy Valdez. Yet he was named that anyways.

The third and oldest Zhang child didn't look like either of his parents. Collin had wild black curls and skin that was somewhere between Frank's pale white and Hazel's dark brown. His eyes were just as gold and scary-looking as Emily Marie's.

Yeah, I'll admit, he looked (and acted) a little like . . . me.

In Collin's hands was a ragged and worn out doll. He was waving it around, and it looked like Sammy was trying to convince him to give it back.

"Come on, Collin," I said in the sternest voice I could manage (which probably wasn't very stern). "Give it back."

The strong-headed, cocky fifteen year old heaved a huge sigh and handed the doll back to his sister, who was hiding behind my legs.

"When are Mom and Dad coming back to get us?" asked Sammy. "I thought you said they should be back by now."

I nodded. "Any minute now. Just hang on."

And then there was a shout from the house. "Leo!"

I spun around to see Frank and Hazel waving at me. I put on a grin and said, "There you go, kids. Your escape route has arrived."

"Mommy! Daddy!" cried Emily Marie. She tore down the hill, her brothers following. I started the walk back to the house and watched as the Zhangs were reunited after a week of not seeing each other.

See, Hazel and Frank decided to go on a small vacation without their kids. They needed a babysitter, but the Graces and the Jacksons were in New York. Since the Zhang family lived in New Rome, I was the closest out of the Seven. Plus I lived by myself and (according to Frank) wouldn't have a problem handling three kids.

Wrong.

As much as I liked Frank and Hazel's kids, they were a handful, especially for a guy like me. I would be relieved when they left.

I reached the others back on my gravel driveway. Hazel gave me a quick hug and Frank shook my hand.

"Thanks so much for doing this, man," said Frank.

"No problem," I replied. "We had fun, right, guys?"

The three children nodded. "Can we go home now?" asked Collin.

Hazel laughed and said, "Sure. I need to talk to Leo first though." Looking me in the eye, she added, "Alone."

I gulped and ducked inside my house. Hazel followed, shutting the door behind her.

"What do you want?" I demanded, dropping the fake grin.

She made a strangled sort of noise in the back of her throat. "Come on, Leo. What happened to the hilarious Leo Valdez who entertained us all on the Argo II all those years ago?"

I shook my head. "You know better than anybody that that was all a cover."

She gazed up into my eyes. "Not all of it."

As we stood there, I knew we were both thinking about the nights on that fateful ship. Late at night, Hazel and I would sneak out and just stand on the deck, talking. Technically speaking, nothing romantic happened. It all started after Percy and Annabeth fell into Tartarus. Hazel was the only one who understood why I blamed myself for that. She talked to me about it, and soon enough we became best friends. For some reason we kept it a secret from Frank. One day he caught us talking and thought we were more than friends. A huge argument erupted between Hazel and Frank, and the son of Mars told Hazel to choose between him and me. After that day, there was no communication between Hazel and I. She pretended that the two of us being friends never happened.

That is, until sixteen years ago . . .

Nope. Not going there.

"Look, Leo. The six of us are meeting up in New Rome in a few days. I want you to come with us," Hazel said.

I thought about it. By "the six of us" she obviously meant herself, Frank, Percy, Annabeth, Piper, and Jason. Yeah, okay, so maybe I did kind of want to see everybody again. I hadn't seen Jason or Piper in a while, and I haven't even talked to Percy and Annabeth since the Giant War.

"Maybe. I'll think about it," I told Hazel.

She rolled her eyes. "I wasn't giving you a choice. We want you there."

Hazel took a deep breath and then added, "Why are you so isolated? Everyone misses you."

"Do they?" I said. "'Cause I haven't heard much from anybody besides you."

Something in her gold eyes sparked. "You can't seriously think you're still the seventh wheel."

I didn't answer her, mostly because that was exactly how I felt.

"Whatever, Leo," she sighed. And with that, she left the house.

I stood at the door and watched as the Zhangs got in their car and drove off. Little Emily Marie waved to me from the window. I smiled and waved back.

Hazel Levesque was gone again, leaving me with a broken heart and a decision to make.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Oh my gosh, thank you so much! When I saw all my reviews, I was literally jumping up and down. You all are so _awesome!_ So anyways, on with the story!**

**Disclaimer: Nope, still not Rick Riordan.**

* * *

Ethan POV

The room was frozen. Dad was a . . . what? I glanced over at my fifteen year old sister, Helena. She looked just as confused as me. Our eyes locked for a second, and she gave me an expression at read, _What the heck? _ I shrugged.

Then Mom said, "Really, Percy? Don't you think you could have been a little . . . I don't know . . . less ridiculously obvious?"

"Obvious? Are you kidding? We have no idea what you're talking about!" shrieked Helena.

Mom took a slow breath. "Okay, so what your father meant was that he - and myself as well - are half Greek god, half human. My mother is Athena and Percy's father is Poseidon."

I let it sink in for a moment. My first thought was that my parents were playing a joke on us. However, I glanced at Mom again. Her face was dead serious. So then my second thought was that having demigod parents was the absolute best thing in the world. I mean, how cool was that?

"So do you have special powers, then?" I asked them. Neither said anything, but Dad pointed at the sink and it turned on of its own accord. The steady stream of water suddenly bent and gushed towards us, dousing our breakfast.

"Overkill," muttered Mom.

Helena was as pale a sheet. She stood up and said, "Well . . . that was a good joke. I'm going to go pack for camp now."

She was standing in the doorway when Dad called out, "About that . . . I don't think you'll be going to Camp Treble this year."

"WHAT? Dad, I go to camp every year! I can't just - you can't - I don't - "

She spluttered some more, but it was a lost cause. It was kind of funny, actually. She was totally fighting a losing battle.

Since my sister appeared not to have the sense to ask exactly _why _she wasn't going to camp, I did.

"So why exactly do I have to actually deal with my sister this summer?"

I'm sure Helena always says that she loves to get away from me. The thing is, I love it too. The two of us don't exactly get along, to say the least. It was pure paradise when she left. If I had to live with her for two months . . .

"The thing is, we're not the only demigods out there," said Mom. "There's a couple camps that train people like us to fight."

After those words, a frightening silence fell over the four of us. I broke it by saying, "Fight what, exactly?"

"Monsters."

* * *

Collin POV

"There they are!" shouted Sammy.

I let my sword drop and glanced to where my brother was pointing. The Jackson family was standing behind the Little Tiber. Percy and Annabeth were there, of course, and their children.

I had never met the Jackson kids before. There was no reason to. We lived in California and they lived in New York. I guess I expected them to be all macho and impressive. They were Percy and Annabeth's children, of course.

What they actually looked like?

Terrified. Absolutely terrified.

There were two of them. The younger one, a boy, seemed exceptionally small and skinny. He had a mop of blond curls and eyes as green as the sea. His sister looked about my age. As I studied her a bit more, my heart jumped a little. She had glossy black hair braided over her shoulder and deeply tanned skin. In other words, she was gorgeous.

Sammy noticed me staring and snorted. "Someone's got a crush."

"Shut up."

I jogged towards the family to welcome them, but the praetor beat me to it. Russell Woods was marching across the grass, sword in hand and a fiery look in his black eyes. His purple praetor's cape billowed behind him, making him look like a huge violet bat. The son of Nemesis was a brilliant fighter, and an excellent leader, but he always seemed to scare the you-know-what out of new legion members.

"What is the meaning of this?" he demanded, shoving his Imperial gold weapon at Percy's throat. "I will not handle Greeks in my camp!"

"Cool it, Russ," I said, making my way towards him. Sammy was right behind me, bow in hand.

"Collin!" called Annabeth. "Your parents told us all about you. And this must be Sammy?"

My brother simply nodded.

"Wow," began Percy, "Collin, you look just like - "

Annabeth elbowed him, hard, in the gut. He stopped talking pretty fast.

I started to wonder what he was going to say. Who did I look like? Sammy was always told he looked like Dad, and my little sister was a mirror image of our mother. I was in the middle, though, so why would Percy think I looked like someone? And why did Annabeth cut him off?

Percy was now trying to talk some sense into Russell. "Yeah, okay, we're Greek, but since when has that been a problem? I thought after the Giant War - "

"Just because we fought alongside you _graecus_ then doesn't mean that I'm letting you Camp Half-Blood types in now!" he shouted. His pale face was starting to redden.

Annabeth stepped forward. "Russell, maybe you should realize who you're talking to. I'm Annabeth, and this is Percy Jackson. You know, former praetor? We're here to meet up with some of our old friends in New Rome."

Russell did not look convinced.

Percy started to look angry. "Does 'The Seven Saviors of Olympus' ring a bell?"

"Oh, all right, then," sighed the praetor. "Go ahead." Turning to Sammy and I, he said, "Zhang! Show these - _visitors -_ around."

"Sure thing, Russ," I said. "Oh, and lighten up a bit, will you?"

He glared daggers at me, but said nothing.

* * *

"So, what's your name? I'm Collin," I said.

"Helena." She gazed out the open window, the breeze blowing a stray piece of hair into her face. I resisted the urge to push it back.

We were standing in my house, which had been redone yesterday to accommodate all the newcomers. The Jacksons, Graces, and the last of the seven (whom I have yet to meet) were staying here for the rest of the summer. Helena and her brother would be joining Sammy and I in the legion, as would Jessica Grace. I hadn't talked to Jessica much. She and her parents, Jason and Piper, had arrived yesterday. She sort of kept to herself.

Percy and Annabeth were catching up with my parents and Jason and Piper in the kitchen, while Sammy showed Helena's little brother around and Jessica entertained Emily Marie. I was with Helena in her bedroom.

"Is this all real?" she blurted, surprising me.

"Well, yeah," I said. "Why wouldn't it be?"

She shrugged, still not looking at me. "This isn't the summer I wanted."

"It is what you make it," I said.

Helena turned to face me at last. She sighed and said, "Easy for you to say. You're used to all this."

I put a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry. It'll get better."

* * *

**A/N: And that's it for now. I probably won't be updating as often anymore. I've been working on writing my own book for almost a year now, and it's almost finished. My goal is to have it done by the end of this summer, but in order to do that, I have to write less FanFiction and more of my novel!**

**To Guest, Girlwithdarkhair, and kat callan: Thanks so much! You guys made my day.**

**To Sam: Ha! It can be more than five chapters! Just for that, I'm gonna make it 100 chapters long! (Just kidding. I could never do that.)**

**To Charlina: Sorry, I'm not going to give anything away!**

**To I am that Writer: OMG hi! Thank you so, so much! You're like my idol, and you have no idea how much it meant to me that you reviewed this . . . ~ tSA**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Okay, so forget about what I said about not updating as much...I tried working on Locked (that's the book I'm writing) for a while this morning, and it pretty much failed. So I figured I might as well write this instead. :D**

**Disclaimer: Did you seriously think I owned these characters? Cause I don't. (Well, actually, I own Helena, Ethan, Collin, Sammy, Emily Marie, Jessica, and Russell. But that's it.)**

* * *

Jason POV

"Geez, Perce. There's no way that actually happened."

Percy grinned. "Of course it did! One minute I was sitting there, and the next I had three dragons on me, all ready to pounce . . ."

Annabeth shoved him. "Just stop with your tall tales. We hardly get any monsters attacks these days, thank the gods."

"Yeah," agreed Frank, "Percy's 'three dragons' was probably an angry Chihuahua."

We all laughed. It was so good to be back with these guys again. It felt just like the old days, back when we would joke and talk around the dinner table on the Argo II.

"Wow, Frank, that joke was almost worthy of Leo," laughed Piper.

"Speaking of Leo, where is he? Did anyone even invite him?" asked Percy with a frown.

At the son of Poseidon's words, my heart dropped. A wave of guilt washed over me. I had totally forgotten about Valdez. That's not all my fault, though. The guy acted like he never wanted to associate himself with us again.

Still, how could we forget? Leo would hate that.

"Well, I told him to come," said Hazel. "But I don't think he really wanted to."

"Someone needs to contact him and tell him to get down here," said Piper. She looked at me. "Jason?"

I sighed. It was the least I could do to make up for me forgetting about my former best friend. "Yeah, okay. I'll Iris Message him."

I got from the table and exited the house, passing Percy's kids as I did so. They were having a full-blown argument about something stupid.

I strolled down the street in New Rome, looking for a source of water. Several familiar faces passed me, such as Dakota and Gwen. I waved to them, but we didn't stop to talk. They could see I was in a hurry. The sun was going down and soon I wouldn't be able to make a rainbow.

I finally found what I was looking for: a huge fountain on the corner of a cobblestone road. I never was a huge fan of water, mostly because my dad was Jupiter and I was more comfortable in the air. Still, I had to admit the fountain was impressive. Thick streams of water gushed into the air and golden denarii sparkled at the bottom of the pool.**  
**

Suddenly I realized that I wasn't alone. A woman was standing near the water, looking at her reflection. Her back was to me, but I knew who she was just by the way she was standing.

"Reyna!"

She turned as fast as a snake, her dark braid whipping around her head. "_Jason?_"

"Hey."

She scowled. "What are you doing here? I thought you lived up in New York, next to the other camp."

"The seven are meeting up here, at Frank and Hazel's house. I'm staying here for the summer," I told her.

She didn't look too happy about that. Her obsidian eyes narrowed and she took a step towards me. "I see you're still keeping up that cheesy 'seven of the prophecy' thing. How's darling Piper?"

Okay, that hurt. "Reyna, can't you just - "

"No."

And with that, she stalked off.

I took a deep breath and turned to the rainbow that was forming in the mist of the fountain. Tossing my drachma in, I called, "O Iris, show me Leo Valdez at . . . uh, his house."

The image changed. Leo had his back turned to me. He was pounding something with a giant hammer, muttering as he did so. "Stupid Hazel . . . stupid me . . . why . . ."

"Um, Leo?"

He turned, and I resisted the urge to yelp in surprise. The Leo Valdez that stood before me now in no way resembled the Leo that was my best friend twenty years ago. His eyes were no longer that warm shade of brown. They were alive with fire and anger. His hands were curled into flaming fists, and fire danced in his hair. The look on his face was so pained, so scary-looking, that I started to wonder if I knew the man before me at all.

"What do you want, Grace?" he snarled.

"Leo, what . . . what happened to you?"

His scowl deepened. "I've always been this way, Grace. You just never took the time to notice."

What was it, National Hate-on-Jason Day? I started to regret wanting to invite Leo to New Rome with us. If he was going to act like this . . . Emily Marie was only eight. She would be scared out of her mind.

"Um, Hazel said she asked you . . . the rest of us are at the Zhang house, if you want to come," I told him nervously.

He shook his head. "I already told Hazel, I'm not coming. Now scram."

Surprisingly, I found myself trying to muster up the bravery to reply. That shocked me - since when has Leo ever scared me? I was Jason Grace, son of the king of the gods. Leo was easily a head shorter than me; he was scrawny and unimpressive to most people. So why did I suddenly feel like I was inferior to him?

"Look, Valdez, if you don't get over here soon, I'm going to fly to your house myself and drag you all the way to California."

He raised an eyebrow, then turned around. After a few minutes of us both doing nothing, he said, without looking at me, "Fine. See you tomorrow."

I swiped my hand through the mist, feeling triumphant and worried. As much as I missed Leo, I definitely didn't miss bitter, creepy Leo.

I could only pray to every god I knew that I wouldn't have to deal with the monster version of the son of Hephaestus tomorrow.

* * *

Jessica POV

_"Little hero, you are weak and unprepared."_

_The voice echoed and chilled my blood. I was standing in a dark and somewhat slimy cave. A deep voice was trying to talk to me. My whole body was shaking from fear and my hands were whiter than a ghost._

_"Who - who are you?" I stammered._

_"That is something I will not reveal. When the time is right I will come out and take everything you know. But for now, I'll just continue to torment you in your sleep."_

_I took a closer look at what I thought was slime and realized it was a dark red color._

_Blood. There was blood on the walls._

_"Now, little hero, what if I told you that I plan to take your parents captive in the near future and the only way to get them back is to do what I say?"_

_I screamed. "Don't say that!"_

_I heard thundering footsteps growing nearer. "Beware, little hero, for I am coming."_

I sat bolt upright in bed and checked the time. Six o'clock in the morning.

I'd had that nightmare for the past three days now. Every night it was the same: a deep and terrifying voice threatening to take my parents. I hadn't told Mom and Dad about it. I didn't want to give them more to handle than they already did. Besides, this was supposed to be their summer of relaxing and hanging out with their friends.

I figured I probably wouldn't be able to fall back asleep, so I got dressed and brushed my hair as quick as I could. I strolled down to the kitchen, where I found Helena Jackson.

I hadn't even met her yet. She just got here yesterday, after all. She was tall and beautiful - everything I longed to be.

Yes, I was related to the goddess of beauty, but that doesn't make me anywhere near as pretty as my mom. You'd think that being the daughter of Jason and Piper made me automatically good looking, right? Not so much. Somewhere along the family line, I became plain and average.

Helena looked at me a bit strangely. "What's your name again?"

"Jessica. Jessica Grace."

She nodded. "I'm Helena."

"I know."

She raised an eyebrow and said, "So why are you up so early?"

I chose to be vague. "Bad dream. What about you?"

"Oh, just couldn't sleep," she replied. "Say, don't we start - "

She stopped. I was about to ask why, but then I heard it too. The front door had creaked open and someone was entering the house.

"Hello?" called a hoarse voice. "Is there anybody in this wretched house?"

Helena looked at me, her gray eyes wide.

A man stomped into the kitchen and dropped his bag on the floor. He had curly black hair hanging in his face and tan skin. His ears were pointed slightly, making him look like an elf. His eyes seemed empty, as if they once were alive with laughter but couldn't find anything to laugh at anymore.

"Are . . . are you an intruder?" I asked stupidly.

"No." He appeared to be holding in his frustration, though it wasn't working very well. "I'm Leo Valdez, and I'm the last of the seven. I am totally _not _an intruder."

* * *

**A/N: Hola! Yup, I got bored today, and honestly, I'm pretty proud of myself for this chapter. It's my longest one yet!**

**To Bookworm19980115, kat callan, guest, Girlwithdarkhair, I am that Writer, and Chameleon-pond: Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you! I still can't believe you guys thought this story was worth reading . . . **

**And to Sam: Yes, I was teasing you. And looks like I updated anyways . . . see ya tomorrow! Mwahahaha**

**So yeah . . . I'd say that I'm not going to update as often anymore, but knowing me, I'll end up posting another chapter tomorrow again. I really need to do something else with my life . . .**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Guys, we hit 1,000 views! You have no idea how happy this makes me. Anyways, sorry I'm late. I'm really bad at this, aren't I? I say I'm not going to update, then I do, then I say I am going to update, then I don't. Wow.**

**Disclaimer: Don't own it.**

* * *

Helena POV

Jessica and I just stared at the latecomer. He seemed harmless enough, though I was quickly learning that you never could be sure with demigods.

"What?" asked Leo, starting to smile. "Do I have something on my face?"

I glanced at Jessica, not sure what to say. Fortunately, we were saved by a half-asleep Frank Zhang stumbling through the door.

"Leo." Frank scowled. "I thought that was you."

Leo nodded. "The party has arrived! Where do I put my stuff?"

Frank shrugged. "Uh, we didn't really expect you to show up, but I guess you can take the spare bedroom. Good thing we built that thing . . ."

"Wait." Leo's grin faltered. "What do you mean, _you didn't expect me to show up_?"

I looked at Jessica, who gestured towards the door. I nodded and we snuck around a now-arguing Frank and Leo.

"What was that all about?" I asked. "Do Leo and Frank have a bad history or something?"

Jessica just shrugged. "I don't know Leo that well, and I've never met Frank, so I wouldn't know. Let's just hope they settle their differences soon."

* * *

I struggled into the heavy and inconvenient armor. So far, I was totally failing at being a Roman legion member. The day had all been a blur to me. Ethan, Jessica, and I were accepted into the camp quickly. Russell hadn't wanted to train descendants of Greeks, but our other praetor, Jade, convinced him. Collin had eagerly volunteered to stand for me, while Sammy stood for Ethan and some girl who claimed to be Collin's friend stood for Jessica. Collin gave me a quick tour of camp, then gave me as much training as he could in a limited amount of time.

Collin seemed nice enough. He was really sweet, and funny, too. And yes, I'll admit, he was pretty cute. However, I was determined to not fall for anyone ever since I learned I wouldn't be seeing my life-long crush at Camp Treble.

Collin and his friend who stood for Jessica were the centurions of Cohort Four. Sammy, on the other hand, was a member of the Second Cohort. Don't ask why; I have no clue.

My main problem with Camp Jupiter was how abrupt everything was. For example, tonight we had war games. I mean, seriously? I couldn't be any less prepared.

As we walked down to the field to play, Collin was rambling on about strategies and fighting moves. I wasn't really listening. My Imperial Gold sword was too heavy and my helmet was falling in my eyes. In other words, I most likely looked like a complete dork.

Ethan walked up to me. Surprisingly, he actually looked cool and collected. He had a gleaming knife at his side and a bow and quiver of arrows on his back. Despite being only twelve, his armor actually looked good on him. In fact, it defined muscles I never knew he had. How come I couldn't look as normal as him? Ethan looked like he had been a legion member all his life. The only thing he was missing was the tattoo on his arm, though at this rate, he would probably get that soon too.

"How's it going, sis?" he asked, clapping me on the shoulder. That move didn't quite work due to the fact he was shorter than me.

"Why do you look so . . . Roman?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. This stuff comes easy to me. Just wait till we start!"

He jogged away, yelling, "You're so going down!"

In all the confusion, I had totally forgotten that I would be playing against Ethan. Fourth and Fifth Cohorts were defending the banners while First, Second, and Third were attacking. I realized that Collin must face this problem every time, with Sammy in the Second and all. I turned to ask him about it, but he was gone. I looked up and found him standing next to Crystal, the other centurion, at the head of the Cohort.

"Fourth Cohort!" called Collin. "As you all know, today we are defending our banners. Fifth Cohort is going to be inside the fort, keeping an eye on the flag. Meanwhile, we will be placed outside, ready to attack any advancing demigods."

"Everybody needs to be putting forth their best effort," continued Crystal. "And I mean _everybody. _It'll be three of them against one of us, so we need to fight as hard as possible. Ready?"

Cheers came from the other Cohort members, including Jessica, but I remained silent. I couldn't fight to save my life. Collin already knew this, but what was Crystal going to think when I failed to stop the others?

"Fourth Cohort!" yelled Collin, all pumped up to fight. Everyone yelled back in response.

"Fourth Cohort!"

Everybody ran to take their places, and I clumsily followed.

Russell and Jade swooped in over us on their pegasi. They gave instructions, but all I could hear was an odd buzzing noise in my ears. I wasn't aware that Collin was talking to me until he poked me, hard.

"What?"

"I said, are you okay?"

I shrugged. "Yeah, I guess."

"You look like you're about to get sick."

"I'm fine!" I bit back, probably a little harder than I meant to. He just nodded and walked away, looking disappointed. I felt bad about it, but at the moment I had other things to worry about.

War games had begun.

All was quiet for a while. I started to wonder if anybody was going to attack.

Then it came.

The noise was quiet at first, but it grew. Suddenly the roar of yelling legion members was deafening. All three Cohorts burst out of nowhere, screaming and waving weapons. It was madness. I feebly tried to defend myself, but it didn't work. Every person I fought shoved me down and kept moving.

Crystal noticed me struggling out of the corner of her eye. If we weren't in the middle of war, I'm pretty sure she would have face palmed.

"Helena! Jessica!" she called. "Retreat back to the door of the fort!"

I looked to the spot she was talking about. It was empty. The Fourth Cohort was doing a good job of keeping the enemy away from the fort, so Crystal most likely positioned us there to keep us out of the way.

Of course, just my luck, it was then that one of the Second Cohort members got through our first line of defense and headed for me. As he got closer, I realized that I knew him.

"Ethan!" I screamed. "What are you doing?"

He grinned. "Sorry, sis!" Then he barreled past me and Jess without a problem and tore inside the fort.

I fell over into the mud with the momentum of his shove. I lay there, completely in shock. Meanwhile, the Fifth Cohort was in an uproar. They weren't expecting a small, twelve year old boy to come attack as quick as he did.

It didn't take long for him to come bolting out of the fort, carrying our banners. He shouted in triumph and carried them back towards his Cohort.

And he didn't look back at me.

The First, Second, and Third Cohorts all started cheering, "ETHAN! ETHAN!"

It was sickening.

My little brother was awarded with the Mural Crown. The roaring of his teammates got louder and louder. No one as new as him had ever been awarded such a high honor.

Crystal had gone to chew out the Fifth Cohort, who apparently had let Ethan take the flag without hesitation. Meanwhile, Collin had stalked over to Jessica and I. He looked angry.

"What were you thinking?" he demanded. "We can't even trust you two to fight off someone three years younger and a head shorter than you?"

"Collin, we tried," I began. "But -"

"I don't want to hear your excuses," he snarled. He stomped off, still looking steamed.

I stood there, feeling utterly rotten and useless.

* * *

**A/N: Thank you again to all my favoriters and followers!**

**To Bookworm19980115, Natsucrush106, kat callan, and girlwithdarkhair: Thank yooouuuu!**

**To thein273: Looking back on it, I might have overdone Leo a bit. Sorry about that, I'll try to make it up to you.**

**To redisawesome: Sorry, no spoilers! (Although I will say that I might have been a little too obvious with the foreshadowing.)**

**I have a question for you guys: do I introduce the characters too fast? I have a bad habit of doing that. There's a lot of them, so let me know if it gets confusing.**


	6. Chapter 6

Collin POV

I was still in shock.

The Fourth Cohort was at its highest point before today's war games. Crystal and I had spent years trying to build up a reputation. At long last, we got what we deserved. We were the Cohort that everybody feared; the one that no one ever beat.

And then comes Ethan Jackson, who screwed everything up.

According to some of the other campers, it was Ethan's idea to have all the offensive fighters attack the fort at once. The concept was so unstructured, so disorganized, so _un-Roman, _that the enemy thought we would never see it coming.

They were right.

Why couldn't we have gotten Ethan? I mean, Jess was okay. From what I had seen, she was actually pretty good - for a newbie. But Helena . . . Helena was awful.

I had chosen to stand for her for obvious reasons. She looked powerful, but looking powerful and actually being powerful were two different things. That was something I should know well.

I was not looking forwards to dinner. Because of our parents having guests, Russell and Jade allowed the five of us (Helena, Ethan, Jessica, Sammy, and I) to return home after legion training everyday. Jade also convinced Russell to let us have the weekends off, which was supposed to be a nice offer, but it made me kind of mad. I much preferred training and fighting to sitting around with my family and nothing to do.

I walked down the path in New Rome, kicking rocks as I did so. The others strolled ahead, still chatting about today's games. _Seriously, _I thought, _doesn't the subject ever get_ _old_?

We finally arrived at our house. As soon as we walked in, we were greeted by Emily Marie, who of course wanted to know all about our day.

"We won, Em!" exclaimed Sammy. "Can you believe that?"

She smiled and started jumping up and down. "Mommy! Guess what? Sammy won!"

Mom turned corner to greet us. Her cinnamon colored curls were pulled back into a loose bun and she had a dish towel in her hands. Her gold eyes were gleaming with pride. She pulled Sammy into a hug and said, "That's fantastic!"

He simply grinned and said, "It was all Ethan's idea, really. He was the hero here."

"Oh, wait until Percy hears. I guarantee that's all he'll talk about tonight."

"Where's everybody else?" asked Helena.

"Well, Percy and Jason decided to have a quick spar, for old time's sake, and naturally Annabeth and Piper went to cheer them on. Leo left to go "get supplies," though what he needs supplies for, I'm not sure. Frank and I were just trying to clean up around here. We're certainly not used to all these people! You kids get a snack if you want. Dinner's in a couple hours."

* * *

"Why do you like exaggerating so much?" asked Jason. "I won by a landslide."

Percy's face turned red. "No you didn't! Well, okay, maybe . . ."

I stabbed my fork into my baked potato. It was excellent food (Mom's cooking always was), but I wasn't in the mood for eating.

"Hey, Dad! Guess what?" said Ethan. He was about to burst with the news he wanted to share. I wanted to crawl under the table in shame, but that wouldn't be very Roman of me.

"Yeah, son?" replied Percy, his mouth full of potato.

"We played war games today and I got this great idea for attacking and then I totally smoked Helena and I got the banners and we won and I got the Mural Crown!" He showed his father the badge on his chest.

Percy grinned, his face gleaming with pride. "That's awesome, Ethan! Victory for the Fourth, right?"

Could this moment get any worse?

"Uh, no, Dad . . . I'm in the Second."

"So . . . the Fourth lost? But I thought you guys were like, invincible!"

At that point, I wanted to die. This was _so _embarrassing.

Helena spoke up. "It was my fault. I let Ethan in." She stopped to glare at her brother. "Though he could have been a little nicer about it."

Ethan shrugged.

"So, what happened? Give us all the details!" said Annabeth. I began to tune them out.

I gazed out the window, watching the sun set over New Rome. The fiery orange light of the sun burned across the horizon. I stared at it, waiting for it to disappear completely. It didn't.

And that's when I realized the light was flickering. As I listened closer, I could hear shrill screams.

"Oh my gods," I muttered.

"Collin?" asked Helena, who was sitting next to me. "Are you okay?"

I gasped and stood up in alarm. "Camp Jupiter is on fire!"

* * *

**A/N: Sorry this is so short. I figured that was an evil place to stop! :)**

**To kat callan: Thanks!**

**To Natsucrush106: I read your review and thought, "Sure, why not?" So here you go! Thanks for answering my question, and, uh, sorry you hate Frank?**

**I'm not even going to bother saying when I'll update, because I am just too unpredictable for my own good.**


	7. Chapter 7

Leo POV

"Camp Jupiter is on fire!"

A sick feeling blossomed in my stomach. Sure enough, all of the seven turned to me, a shocked and horrified look on their faces.

I laughed nervously. "Come on, Collin. You know that can't possibly be -"

"See for yourself!"

Percy was the first one out of his chair. He tore towards the door, Annabeth hot on his heels. Jason, Piper, and Frank followed and Hazel scooped up Emily Marie and held her close. Collin was glaring at me. Helena, Jessica, Ethan, and Sammy sat there for a second, then got up to follow their parents.

I took one last look at Collin Zhang, then ran towards the door as well.

Everybody was standing on the porch, which made it a pretty squished porch.

"Holy Hephaestus," I murmured. Being a fire user and all, you'd expect me to love fire. If you said that, I would most likely laugh in your face.

Fire has tormented me since age eight. It killed my mom. It made me an outcast. And now, it was going to get me in trouble again.

Everyone most likely assumed I set Camp Jupiter on fire. Here's the truth: _I didn't._ Why would I set a whole camp on fire? Just because I'm Greek doesn't mean I want to see the Romans go down in flames. Besides, people should really stop assuming that everything fire-related had to do with me.

There were screaming Romans running everywhere. A tall woman with a dark braid dashed by us, screaming, "Don't just stand there, Jackson! Aren't you the water boy? Do something!"

"Reyna?!" asked Percy in disbelief.

"She's right," said Annabeth. "Come on, Seaweed Brain! Helena, Ethan, stay right where you are. Don't leave the house!"

Annabeth took her husband's hand and the two of them sprinted towards camp. Jason and Piper decided to go and try to bring some of the campers to safety. After all, New Rome was still untouched by the blazing fire.

As I watched the flames dance over thing the Romans held dear, horrible memories came rushing back. I clearly remembered the end of the Giant War, when I had made one wrong move and everything was on fire. The red-hot flames had consumed everything.

_To storm or fire the world must fall._

And fall it had.

Now it was happening again: the fire was taking over, and I would be to blame.

I felt conflicted. Should I go down and try to help? That would be the noble thing, but if I did that, I would have to deal with people accusing me.

Screw accusations. They needed all the help they could get.

I glanced at Hazel and Frank, who looked terrified. _Frank's stick, _I thought. There was no way they were going near that fire.

"Really, Valdez?" said Frank, sounding steamed. "Don't you think setting camp on fire is crossing the line a bit?"

There were a bunch of replies I could have given Frank (and most of them weren't very nice), but I settled with, "I didn't do it."

Then I raced towards the camp.

Things looked worse up close. Everything was burning - the barracks, the armory, even the fort from today's war games. Campers were screaming everywhere, running like chickens with their heads cut off.

I caught up to Annabeth. She was watching Percy, who was controlling the Little Tiber and pretty much drowning everything he could. Some of the flames went out, but more fire just kept appearing.

"What's going on?" I yelled to her. It was so loud, I could hardly hear my voice.

She jumped when she realized I was right next to her, then pointed up the hill and screamed, "Cabeirian horses! They're fire-breathing automatons of your father!"

I looked to where she was pointing. Sure enough, standing over all of Camp Jupiter, were two huge bronze horses. They had wicked-sharp teeth and were blowing flames all over everything in sight. They stomped their brass feet and roared loudly. _Are horses supposed to roar?_ I thought.

For some odd reason, no one would go near the things. If you killed the horses, you killed the source of the fire, right?

"Why isn't anyone stopping them?" I bellowed.

"What do you think, idiot?" she screamed back. "We'll get burned to death!"

"I wouldn't!"

"Then go! Finish them off yourself!"

She was right. I was the only one who could stop those monsters. Besides, if I did it, everyone wouldn't think the fire was my fault anymore. I bolted for the horses.

* * *

Sammy POV

"Mom, what do we do?" I asked.

She took a shaky breath and said, "I don't know."

"We should go help," said Dad.

"What? But Frank, your - "

Dad cut off Mom with a wave of his hand. Looking me in the eye, he handed me a small package wrapped in cloth. "Keep this safe. Don't let it near the fire, and protect it like it's your life. Keep it on you at all times, and never set it down or give it to someone else." Lowering his voice so only I could hear, he added, "Not even one of your siblings."

I nodded and took the package. The silk cloth felt smooth underneath my fingers.

Mom set down Emily Marie. My little sister looked terrified. Helena went to hold her hand, but the little girl nudged away from the stranger. Collin grabbed her instead.

"Don't lose track of her," said Mom. "And please, all of you stay here. I don't want you getting hurt."

The six of us watched Mom run off with Dad. For a moment we were silent, and then Ethan said, "So, where do we start?"

I turned to look in shock at the Jacksons' son. He was crazy, right? Mom just told us to stay put!

"You're insane," said Jessica. I agreed.

Collin put down Emily Marie. "He's right. As much as I hate to be on the same page as Mr. I'm-so-cool-because-I-won-war-games, they need our help."

"You're both insane," said Helena. I agreed.

"Look, I'm staying here," I said. "Dad told me to stay away from the fire, and Mom and Annabeth both said not to go anywhere."

Ethan and Collin looked at each other. Green eyes met gold, and a look of understanding passed between them. With that, they both stepped off the porch and started jogging to camp. They didn't look back. Emily started crying, and Jess said, "Shh. It'll be okay."

I only wished I could believe her.

* * *

Leo POV

Fire engulfed me as the metal horses doused me in their fiery breath. Why did my dad have to make such horrible monsters?

I was wielding a giant hammer, ready to bash those Cab-what's-it's-name horses in the head. I was five feet away, four, three . . .

Then something pierced my side and everything went black.

* * *

**A/N: Hello! Looks like I'm back to updating a lot.**

**To Mila-is-a-bookworm-101, kat callan, and girlwiththedarkhair: I can't believe you guys thought it was Leo! I didn't even think about that when I was writing it...**

**To Natsucrush106: I agree with you on the stealing Hazel from Leo thing, though it doesn't make me hate Frank, really. I actually started writing this before I read your review, but here's a Leo POV!**

**And to AugustSummer: Thank you a billion times!**

**Here's another question for you experienced FF users: If we write a songfic, are we allowed to put lyrics in the story? Cause I've been writing this awesome Percabeth one, but it won't work without the lyrics.**


	8. Chapter 8

Ethan POV

"Look at that, Collin! I got it!"

I was practically dancing with excitement. I had found these awesome poisonous arrows. Collin had told me that the poison could kill anything within an hour. I took aim and fired. My arrow hit its mark and a dark shape fell to the ground.

"Not bad," he said. I beamed. Impressing Collin was hard to do. He was one of the best at camp, and I was pretty sure he hated me from earlier today. It was good to know that he liked what I was doing.

Okay, so maybe "not bad" isn't the highest of praises, but it was a start.

"Hang on a sec . . ." muttered Collin, looking closer. "Oh, gods, Ethan. You didn't hit the horses, you hit a person!"

"_What?_"

"Give me that!" Collin took the arrows and bow from my hand and aimed. With two perfect shots, the poisonous arrows hit their mark - right inside the horses' mouth. Though poison couldn't kill metal creatures, it sure could stop them from blowing fire.

As soon as the fire stopped and the monsters staggered, Collin dropped the bow and started for the motionless body.

I killed someone. Well, they probably weren't dead yet, but give them an hour or so, and they would be.

"Ethan! Where's Collin going?"

I turned around. It was Hazel.

I gulped and said, "Um, I accidentally shot someone with a poisonous arrow and he went to help."

Hazel looked to where her son was now crouched at the body, and gasped. "You hit Leo!"

Fantastic. Not only did I kill someone, I killed Leo Valdez. This day just kept getting better and better.

* * *

Hazel POV

I leaned over Leo. His eyes were closed and blood was dripping from the wound in his side. His chest rose and fell slowly, which meant all hope wasn't lost yet.

Collin looked at me and whispered, "What do we do?"

I held back a sob and said, "Ambrosia and nectar. We need to heal him!"

Collin nodded and left to go find something to help.

I turned back to Leo. There was still a tiny flame dancing in his black curls. As I stared at his unconscious face, I was reminded of picnics under the sun with Sammy, when he would fall asleep and I was content just to look at him. A part of me longed for my days as a child, when everything was so much simpler. Yes, I had to deal with my curse, but at least I was sure of which boy I loved.

"Please don't die, Leo," I moaned. "There's so much I didn't get to tell you."

Collin returned with a praetor and some nectar. As I trickled the godly drink into his mouth, Jade said, "Gods of Olympus, what happened to him?"

"Poisonous arrow," said Collin, "shot by the almighty Ethan Jackson."

I stopped feeding him the healing liquid. "I think that's all we can give him without the risk of - "

"Hello?" croaked a hoarse and very familiar voice.

I looked down to see a pair of brilliant brown eyes looking back at me.

"You're okay!" I said to Leo. I wrapped my arms around him in a huge bear hug.

Someone cleared their throat behind me. I didn't have to turn around to know it was Frank.

"Jeez, Hazel, don't choke me," said Leo, but I could tell he was happy.

The gash in his side was nearly closed now, though there was still a large amount of blood. I stood up carefully and offered a hand to the son of Hephaestus. He took it and I helped him up.

"Who did this?" demanded Percy. Looking behind him, I could see that he had destroyed the horses using Riptide. He was now standing next to Frank.

"Your son shot Leo here with deadly poison," I snapped.

"No, I meant - wait, what?"

"Exactly," muttered Collin. "Speaking of Ethan, where is the little creep?"

I looked around. Most of the fire had been put out, and the wreckage left behind was terrible. Everything lay collapsed on the ground, charred and smoking. The place almost seemed haunted. It was quiet - an eerie quiet that seemed bizarre compared to the ruckus that had taken place just moments before. I scanned the crowd of burnt Romans, but if any of them were Ethan, it was impossible to tell.

"Collin," I told my son, "lay off of him. He was just trying to help."

He just shook his head and walked away, probably to find the other legacies.

"Hazel, Frank, Leo, Percy?" said Jade. "We're going to hold a senate meeting to try and find out who set those monsters on our camp, and, more importantly, how they got into the camp in the first place. You and the rest of the seven are welcome to join us."

Percy nodded and said, "We'll be there. Come on, guys. Let's go find Jason, Piper, and Annabeth."

I glanced at Leo, then replied, "You and Frank go ahead. Leo and I will catch up."

Percy raised an eyebrow, but thankfully said nothing. Frank opened his mouth to say something. Unfortunately for him, Percy grabbed his arm and pulled him away.

"What was that about?" asked Leo.

"Look, Repair Boy, you can't keep doing stuff like that."

"Like what?" he asked, grinning. "Be awesome? Cause Hazel, you know that can't be stopped."

I rolled my eyes at him. "No, I mean almost die. You really had me worried there."

He shook his head, his tangle of curls flying in his face. "Nah, don't worry about me. I'll be fine. I can take care of myself, you know?"

I didn't reply. I simply gazed into his chocolate brown eyes and thought about so many things in my life that had gone wrong. If only things were a little different . . .

_No, you can't think that,_ I told myself. _You're married, with three kids, no less, and your heart belongs to_ Frank.

But what would have happened if I never met Frank? What if he was Greek and Leo was Roman? What if I had never died in the first place?

As all these thoughts swam around my head, I realized Leo and I were standing much closer than we were when Frank and Percy left.

I broke the moment by turning away and saying, "We should get going."

"Yeah." He sounded disappointed. "Sure thing."

* * *

**A/N: To all my fellow Americans, Happy 4th of July! Have an update!**

**To those who thought Leo set the fire: Sorry! I guess I made it seem that way without really meaning to. I'm sorry if I ticked anybody off.**

**To anyone who has or will guess that Collin is Leo's son: Okay, let's admit, I am way too obvious with foreshadowing so *SPOILER* you guys are good guessers.**

**And to Guest: Thank you! Nico will come into play, but it could take a little while, so you'll have to be patient. And here's a Hazel POV, hope you liked it!**


	9. Chapter 9

Annabeth POV

The second I saw Percy walking towards me with that look in his green eyes, I knew something was wrong.

I opened my mouth to talk to him, but he kissed me instead. For a brief moment I allowed myself to slip into his arms and forget about everything. As I closed my eyes, I stopped thinking about monsters and ambushes and fires and scared Romans.

Then I pulled away. If I could, I would kiss him for the rest of eternity. Unfortunately, we had a burning camp to worry about.

"What happened?" I asked, still in Percy's arms.

He took a deep breath then said, "Our son was trying to stop the horses using poisonous arrows, but he hit Leo instead."

"_What?_" I started to wonder if I heard him right. Ethan would never do anything like that, right?

"We'll deal with it later. Right now we have a senate meeting to attend."

Instantly my stomach started churning. "About what?"

"Who set the monsters on us, and why they were here in the first place."

I had wondered when we would get around to this subject. I was extremely curious as to what had just happened. My mind had been spinning trying to think of who could have caused this, but the possibilities were endless, and without any further proof, we may never know. Greek mythology was huge.

Percy and I started towards New Rome. As it came into view, I was astonished. The difference between the city and camp was unbelievable. Don't ask me why, but somehow New Rome was untouched. Every building was still standing and every cobblestone was in place. It was dark, but the streetlamps lit the way to the Senate House.

As soon as I ducked into the building, I nearly forgot how to breathe. The architecture was literally breathtaking. Seats rose up in tiers around a stone platform. There, in the middle of the House, were two huge satiny and ornate chairs. Jade was sitting in one and the other was empty.

Many conflicted Romans were talking - well, okay, arguing - in the stone seats. Some were wearing tattered togas and others were in charred t-shirts. Whatever the case, all seemed to be riled up from the disaster.

Percy and I found Jason and Piper, who were sitting to the left, away from the yelling teenagers. We took a seat next to them.

"Where're Frank, Hazel, and Leo?" asked Percy.

As if on cue, Frank stumbled into the Senate House, Hazel and Leo close behind. Frank was yelling and Leo looked defensive, which only meant one thing: the Valdez-Zhang showdown had begun.

Again.

The three demigods took a seat next to Jason and were silent, though Frank and Leo kept shooting each other glares from either side of Hazel.

"Romans, come to order!"

I straightened and turned at the sound of the deep instructions. Immediately the arguing diminished.

Russell was now sitting in the other chair. His praetor's cape was in ruins and his brown hair was covered in ashes. "Okay, listen up. It's late and we're all still traumatized, so forget formalties. We need to get to the bottom of this."

Jade continued. "The power of the Little Tiber alone should have been enough to repel the monsters. And that's not to mention we always have two guards posted at the camp entrance. Caroline, Nick, what happened?"

All heads turned towards two young and small-looking teenagers. The girl, Caroline, just shrugged, staring at the ground. Nick spoke up.

"Um, well, they were breathing fire."

"_Breathing fire? _ No way, really?" said Russell sarcastically. "I think we realize that! The question is, why didn't you stop them?"

Nick started studying the ground as well. Typical.

"Well then," said Jade. "Does anybody have any proof as to why they showed up?"

"Gaea's come back for revenge!" shouted someone.

"It's the Titans again!" yelled another.

"Vulcan hates us!"

At that last one, Leo's head whipped around. "_Excuse_ me?"

"Everybody settle down!" called Piper. At her charmspeak, all fell quiet. "What if we're overthinking this? They might have just been passing monsters who smelled demigods and decided to attack. It's very likely."

"She's right," said Russell, who seemed to be in a trance. That is, until Jade slapped him.

"Piper, you may be correct. However, if anybody finds out anything about this, let someone know immediately. Meeting adjourned."

* * *

Jessica POV

At long last, I saw him. Collin Zhang was making our way towards us, hands in his pockets and eyes narrowed.

"What happened? And where's my brother?" asked Helena.

He reached us and leaned against the porch railing, arms crossed. After a brief moment of silence, he barked, "I'm gonna kill Ethan."

"Is this still about war games? Because seriously, Collin, you need to cool it - "

"No!" he yelled, making us all jump. "Jackson is arrogant, cocky, and he thinks he can do anything."

_Your point is...? _I couldn't help wondering. I didn't know Collin that well, but from what Sammy had told me, he was also arrogant and cocky sometimes. Just not now.

"And because he thinks he can do anything, he decided to take down a pair of fire-breathing metal horses all by himself. The end result? That little brat nearly killed Leo!"

My mouth fell open. Helena sprang to her brother's defense. "I'm sure he didn't mean to. It's just your pride, getting in the way _again."_

"You're just saying that because he's your brother!" cried Collin. "If you were there, you'd get it! But wait, you were too 'let's do exactly what Mom and Dad say' to even leave this stupid house!"

"Shut up!" screamed Helena, her face reddening. "That's not it at all! I think you're just too embarrassed that you're not the best after all to realize that Ethan may not have meant to cause any harm!"

"So if you're not being Mommy's girl, then why didn't you follow us? Maybe you were just too scared to come help!" shouted Collin.

"I said, shut up! You know I couldn't have been any help even if I did go! So stop making nasty accusations about someone you don't even know!"

I stepped in between the two, stopping the heated argument. "Come on, guys. Let's calm down and think sensibly, okay? Where are our parents?"

"Senate meeting," growled Collin. He shoved me aside and stormed inside the house, slamming the door.

Helena sighed and walked to the other side of the porch, turning her back to me. I took a deep breath and looked at Sammy and Emily Marie. I opened my mouth to speak but was cut off by Ethan, who had just showed up.

"I'm back. Miss me?"

* * *

**A/N: You have no idea how much fun I had writing that argument...**

**Anyways, thanks a billion to all my favoriters, followers, and reviewers. I appreciate it, a lot! Sorry this is so short. I'll try to update soon.**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Hello, everybody! I'm back with another chapter!**

**So, a little while back I introduced my friend to HoO. She had read PJO a while ago, but never got around to the second series, somehow. I've been nagging her about it for a while, and she finally took my advice. When she told me today that she had finished The Lost Hero, I couldn't help myself. I went full-out fangirl on her.**

**Needless to say, it was absolutely hilarious. Anyways, enough of me rambling. On to the story!**

**Disclaimer: Last time I checked, Rick Riordan isn't fourteen. Just saying.**

* * *

Helena POV

"Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!"

I groaned and rolled over, putting my pillow over my head. I did not - and I repeat did _ not - _want to deal with Collin today.

"Go away, Ethan," I mumbled, my voice muffled from the pillow.

"It's not Ethan," sang the person. "It's Emily Marie! Now wake up up up!"

That child was clearly way too peppy in the morning.

I heard the eight year old girl running down the hall in bare feet. Soon she was in front of Jessica's door and, although it was faint, I could hear her yelling, "Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!"

When I stumbled into the kitchen twenty minutes later, Hazel was making breakfast and Emily was running around her, chanting, "Pancakes! Pancakes! Pancakes!"

Did she ever shut up?

Collin and Sammy were sitting at the table, chatting in a hushed tone. Their faces were deadly serious, and that's what scared me.

When they saw me standing in the doorway, Collin scowled and Sammy said cheerfully, "What took you so long?"

I checked the clock over the stove. "It's eight thirty! What do you mean, what took me so long?"

He just grinned, his dark eyes glistening with humor. "I was kidding. We're usually up at seven seven no matter what, but it seems everybody else prefers to sleep in on the weekends."

I slid into the seat next to Collin. He looked away from me, which stung.

"Hey," I told him. He stared straight ahead and did not speak.

"Um, I'm sorry about last night," I continued. "It was late and I was overwhelmed and I was tired and scared. It's just that things like this never happen where I come from, and I didn't know what to do. You attacked my brother, and I snapped. So . . . yeah. I'm sorry."

He sighed and said, still without making eye contact, "I'm sorry too. I was screwed up, and you were right. My pride got in the way."

Sammy laughed. "Man, if only you and Emily Marie would make up all nice and movie-like just like this every time you fought. This house would never be a war zone again."

Collin simply rolled his eyes, and I grinned. Then he finally turned to look at me with his brilliant gold eyes. He smiled, and I grinned harder.

"Helena and Collin, sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"

Behold, my nusicance of a little brother.

"Shut up, Ethan!" I called and jumped up to teach him a lesson. Then I realized my parents were right behind him, and my face reddened even more.

"Good morning," said Dad. I smiled feebly.

Ethan gave me a triumphant grin, until Mom shoved him forwards and said, "And that's enough from you, young man."

Ethan's grin vanished, and everybody laughed.

After breakfast, we had a whole Saturday to ourselves with nothing to do. I retreated to my room with my guitar and sang all the songs I had written that year. If I closed my eyes, I could imagine that I was back on the stage at Camp Treble, singing my heart out. In my mind I could hear the crowd cheering for me. I finished the last one, my personal favorite, with my eyes still shut tight. I sighed longingly and lay back on my bed.

"You have an incredible voice."

I sat bolt upright and looked towards the source of the voice. Collin was standing in my doorway, leaning against the wall.

"How long have you been standing there?" I asked, embarrassed.

He shrugged. "Not very long. Just for that last song, I guess."

I set the guitar down and looked at the sheets of notebook paper scattered over my bed. A year's worth of songs, wasted.

"I want to show you something," said Collin.

I raised an eyebrow. "Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah. I hope you're not busy."

I crossed my room to where he was standing. "Okay, then. Lead the way."

He started off through the house and out the door. I struggled to keep up with his quick pace as he walked through New Rome, up streets and down sidewalks. We crossed through lawns multiple times and ran across roads, nearly getting run over by traffic.

Finally we came to a huge and abandoned-looking house. Several of the windows were shattered and the door had a huge crack down the middle. It looked like a creepy place, and I couldn't believe why Collin had brought me here.

"Um . . . what am I looking at again?"

He laughed. "This isn't it. Come here." He grabbed my arm and pulled me to behind the house, where a huge wooden gate stood. It creaked noisily as Collin pushed it open.

Nothing could have prepared me for what I saw next. Inside this broken down, rotting gate was a miniature wonderland. Overgrown plants covered every patch of grass, and the stone path that wound through the garden was the only thing that wasn't completely green. Beautiful flowers sprung every which way and a small ivy-covered fountain bubbled in the middle of it all.

"What is this place?" I asked in awe.

"It's my secret hideout. It's been abandoned for years, but somehow the plants just kept growing. I discovered it when I was about ten. I've been coming bloggers to kind of escape the madness of camp ever since then, but you're the first person besides me to see it."

_Why me? _ I couldn't help wondering. I barely knew the guy . . . I decided to take it as a compliment.

"It's beautiful," I said.

He nodded, and for a moment neither of us spoke. Then I asked, "So do you think we'll get another monster attack?"

He just laughed. "Are you kidding me? I hope not. Monster attacks don't happen very often."

"So . . . it's not normal for the camp to burn down like that?"

He shook his head. "Nah. I've been going to camp for four years, and I've never seen anything like that. I'm just curious why it happened."

"Piper said the monster was in passing," I said.

"I don't believe that for a second," Collin scoffed. "Someone's trying to take us down, and I know it."

"What makes you say that?"

He lowered his voice. "I heard Jessica screaming in her sleep last night."

"_What?_"

"Something like, 'Don't take my parents! Take me instead!' She sounded like she was being tortured."

"We should say something to her," I told him.

"Yeah," he agreed. "But let's just forget about that right now. I just want to enjoy the peace and solitude of this place."

I nodded and stopped talking.

Collin was right. Sometimes, it was nice to just stop worrying about everything and enjoy life.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Hello! I'm back! And guess what? WE HIT 50 REVIEWS! That's awesome! Thanks to all my reviewers, and thanks to My Words Live for the idea for this chapter.**

**Guess what again? I finally finished that book I was writing! It's the first whole book I've ever completely finished, editing and all. I guess now I have to start the second one.**

**Oh, and sorry for any extremely long paragraphs in this chapter. I may have gotten a little carried away, but please bear with me. It's to make up for all the short chapters before.**

**Disclaimer: I'm also pretty sure Rick Riordan isn't a girl . . .**

* * *

Collin POV

Two weeks later, things were almost back to normal. The Romans, being Romans, were able to reassemble the camp over the weekend. We were got back to training on Monday as if nothing had ever happened.

About a week ago, Jade and Russell had made a surprising announcement: this week's chariot races had a bit of a twist. Our parents were teaming up with us in an ultimate seven-against-seven showdown.

As soon as he heard this, Sammy went to work with Dad on their chariot, which left me with Mom. Jessica and Jason were together, which would make a pretty good team. Leo and Piper had been allowed to work together due to the lack of legacies. Annabeth had paired up with Helena, which of course left Percy and Ethan.

I'll admit, they were the team I was most worried about. Separately, the father and son were pretty good. But together . . . they would be unbeatable.

However, I was not going to get humiliated in front of everybody by Ethan again. Mom and I planned out our chariot carefully. We built it to perfection, with two huge sleek black horses. Mom had studded our chariot with various gemstones for effect, and it was awesome. Hazel had decided to steer and I would be the defense man.

When we pulled up to the starting line, I was able to get a good look at the rest of the chariots for the first time.

It looked like Leo had made his horses out of the smoking remains of the automatons that attacked camp two weeks ago. They were bronze and metallic, though it didn't look like they were breathing fire. Of course, Leo himself was riding the chariot, so it didn't really matter if the horses were fire-breathing or not.

Jason and Jessica had pegasi attached to their chariot. They were flapping their giant white wings impatiently, ready to begin. However, the most spectacular thing about the thing was the chariot itself. It seemed to be made out of clouds and vapor. It was shimmering and moving around. I had no idea how Jason and Jessica were staying on, but they both looked pumped.

Dad and Sammy's chariot seemed normal enough. Then I realized that Dad wasn't even on the chariot. In fact, he was nowhere in sight. When Sammy caught me looking, he grinned and pointed to where three horses were pulling the chariot. Wait. Three? Dad had totally bent the rules and _became _his own third horse. Not fair.

Annabeth and Helena's chariot also looked pretty normal. However, Helena was driving, which meant that Annabeth could totally take us down with some wicked plan she was forming in her mind.

Ethan and Percy's chariot was sea green, and they had two blue horses pulling it. I don't know where they got blue horses, and frankly, I didn't want to know. Percy was driving, which shocked me. That meant Ethan would be the one to try and take us down. I nearly laughed out loud. I didn't have to worry as much, though I knew knew from experience not underestimate Ethan.

"Is everybody ready?" called out Jade. She stood in the stands, all of Camp Jupiter behind her.

We all waved to show that we wanted to get started.

"On your marks . . . Get set . . . Go!"

Mom propelled our horses forwards and the race began.

For a moment, we rode along without any fighting. We just had to make it around the track three times; if we could do that, victory was ours. I could almost taste it.

Then problems began. Sammy's chariot was way ahead of everybody else. It made sense - he had three horses, after all.

I took careful aim with with an arrow and let it fly. It hit its mark: right underneath the wheel. I shot another one and hit Dad's hoof. He whinnied in outrage and turned into a human in panic. The chariot was already spinning from my first hit. Then Sammy tried to stop the horses and save Dad, who looked ridiculous in the reins.

They ended up flying to the other side of the track, taking down Annabeth and Helena before the daughter of the wisdom goddess could unfold her wicked plan.

Fortunately, we were far enough behind that we didn't get hit. Mom had to swerve around the wreckage pretty hard, though.

As we sped up, the fighting got worse. I had to deflect several arrows from Ethan, a couple javelins from Jason, and an actual flaming sword that Leo had chucked at me.

Piper made her mistake when she tried to ram into Jason's chariot. Being vapor and all, the shove didn't in any way slow down Jessica and her father. Once his wife was close enough, Jason struck his sword down on her chariot. It crumbled to pieces, and she and Leo had to jump off to save themselves.

We had now made it around for two laps. It looked like Jason, Jessica, Percy, and Ethan had totally forgotten about Mom and I. They were only worried about taking each other down. If I could manipulate that somehow . . .

"Get me over behind Ethan," I muttered to Mom. She didn't question my moves, but simply drove to the spot I was talking about. I took careful aim with an arrow at one of the wheels on Jessica's chariot. It wasn't enough to send the whole thing down, but it was just enough to give Percy and Ethan a slight lead.

"Percy!" growled Jason. "Haven't you been the winner enough?"

"What are you talking about? You love being in the spotlight just as much as I do!" called back Percy.

"Ha! You just admitted that you love being a show-off!"

"I do not!"

Mom caught on to my plan and pulled up just behind Jessica and Jason's chariot. I shot another arrow, this one hitting Ethan and Percy's wheel in the same spot.

"Jason!" shouted Percy. "Stop going after me!"

Now both chariots were unstable, but they drew near each other and rammed together, causing more damage. Jason and Percy began to swordfight right on the spot. Ethan and Jessica both backed up and tried to keep their chariots going in a straight line.

What happened next was madness. I grabbed a javelin and prepared for the final touch on this disaster. I had to be quick, though. I could see the finish line.

I tossed my javelin right over both chariots, and it landed embedded in the ground. In order to keep from running it over, Ethan and Jessica swerved their nearly broken chariots in either direction, causing Jason and Percy to fall out onto the ground. They lay in a sprawled heap in the middle of the track.

I hadn't been planning for this, and neither did Mom, but our horses leapt right over the two men. I hung on for dear life, feeling as though I was about to fall right out the back of our chariot.

And then we made it, landing right in front of the finish line.

We won.

Jade and Russell crossed the stands and jumped onto the track.

"Congratulations! We have our winners!" called Jade. Russell came forwards with the laurels and placed them on our heads.

"Hazel and Collin Zhang have won the chariot races!"

_Take that, Ethan._


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: Sorry I'm really late! Band camp and writer's block got the best of me, which is why this is pretty short. It's late and I have to be up early tomorrow for camp again, so I had to cut it short. I'm really, really sorry!**

**Disclaimer: Seriously, I don't own most of this stuff.**

* * *

Jessica POV

"Not too shabby, newbie," said Sammy, nudging me with his shoulder.

I smiled. "Thanks."

We were at lunch. The chariot races had just finished and our parents (plus Leo) were invited to eat in camp. They sat at their own table, while I had moved to the Second Cohort's table. Yes, I was supposed to be eating with the Fourth, but honestly, if I had to hear Collin say one more thing about his victory I was going to die.

"Yeah, pretty good," added Ethan.

I rolled my eyes. "You're newer than me."

He shrugged. "I'm still better."

Sammy started laughing, but he looked over my shoulder and immediately stopped. I whirled around, looking to see what the problem was. Helena and Collin were standing behind me with their arms crossed. Leaning in, Collin muttered, "We need to talk. _Now._"

"Oo-kay . . ." I stood up and followed them outside, out of earshot of everybody else. They stopped under a tall tree.

"We heard you screaming," blurted Helena.

At first I had no idea what she was talking about. Since when was I screaming? Then a thought suddenly came to my mind. It might be that . . . No, they couldn't possibly know about that.

"In your sleep," added Collin.

Oops. Guess they did know about that.

"What gives you the sudden right to spy on me when I'm sleeping?" I retorted, kind of angry that they bothered to question me about this. It was _my _life. Why should they care what happens to me at night?

"Fiesty."

Helena shot Collin a look. He shrugged.

"Look, we know something's out there," said Helena. So if you know anything about this . . . you should really tell someone."

"I don't have to tell you anything!" I screamed at them. And then, suddenly, the terror and stress of everything that had been going on got to me and I started to cry. Collin gave me a hug and I sobbed onto his shoulder. Once I had cried so much and there were no more tears to lose, I sniffed and let go.

"I've been having these dreams," I began. "Every time it's the same: a deep voice saying something about revenge and demanding that I follow what he says or he'll take my parents. The scary thing is that I think it's real. . ."

"Revenge?" asked Collin, looking confused. "Who could could want revenge?"

I racked my brains and tried to remember the exact words that were spoken. "I think he said that his wife was killed and he was coming to capture the people who killed her. I don't know what that means, but - "

"Oh my gods."

Helena and I both turned to look at Collin, who had turned really pale.

". . . Yes?"

"Gaea. Gaea was killed by our parents. And that means our enemy is - "

"Ouranos." I finished. "Father of the Titans and ruler of the sky."


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: I'm back! To answer some of your guys' questions, funkypudding, yeah that's pretty much what I meant when I said Gaea was killed, and about Ouranos, well, we all though Kronos was cut to pieces too, and look what happened. Girl-On-Fire-Forever, I've already been slipping in notorious amounts of Lazel. If you can't tell, I ship Lazel so hard it hurts. I have to have some Frazel in here because, well, they're married, but I hope to have lots of tension between Leo and Hazel. fowlsprincess6138, yes, in the near future, there will most likely be a whole chapter dedicated to that. Just you wait and see! And I'm really, really sorry to Demigod4Ever (and the rest of my awesome readers) for not updating sooner. I feel absolutely horrible and I hope you guys don't get too mad!**

**Anyways, sorry for this enormous author's note. Without further ado, on to the story!**

* * *

Ethan POV

Saturday. Again. Another whole day with absolutely nothing to do.

I decided to spend my fun-filled vacation day strolling down a near-empty road kicking rocks. Hey, it's a good pastime! You should try it sometime.

Who was I kidding? I was an annoying loner with no friends to talk to. Collin and Helena seemed to suddenly decide that Jessica was their new best friend, and the three of them went to go get something to eat. They were going to "talk about serious matters that are over the head of a small, helpless boy like you," as Helena put it to me. Sammy had gone out with his dad and sister for archery practice (don't ask why they let an eight-year-old girl handle weapons) and didn't bother to invite me. Family time I guess.

Annabeth, Percy, Jason, and Piper left New Rome completely under the direction of some lady named Reyna to find some creep named Octavian. That left Leo, Hazel, and I alone in the house, but talking to adults is just plain awkward, so I left.

I was so deep in thought, I ran into somebody and sent them flying to the ground.

"Watch where you're going, idiot."

"I'm so sorry!" I cried. "Are you okay?"

I looked down to see who it was. A girl about my age with curly brown hair and bright green eyes looked up at me. I held out a hand to help her up.

"I'm fine, no thanks to you," she growled. "Do you run into people on a daily basis?"

I grinned. "You bet. You're my fifth one today."

Her scowl remained on her face.

"I was kidding, jeez," I said. "What's your name? I'm Ethan Jackson."

She put a hand over her mouth. "Did you say Jackson?"

I sighed. Unfortunately, I had been getting this a lot. Apparently my parents are pretty famous. "Yes, I'm Percy Jackson's son. And you are?"

"Lexie Stoll."

"Do you go to camp here?" I asked her. "I've never seen you in the legion."

She leaned in and I caught my breath. Girls don't usually get close to me, and I may or may not have personal space issues.

"Can you keep a secret, Jackson?" she hissed.

I took a shaky breath. "Sure."

"I'm a spy from the Greeks."

_What the heck?_ was my first reaction. Since when was there a Greek camp? Then I remembered what Mom had told us when she first revealed her demigod status. _"There's a couple camps that train people like us to fight."_ And Dad had said he was the son of Poseidon, not Neptune. The pieces began to come together in my head.

"Wait...so Dad is Greek? And Mom too?" I asked Lexie.

"And Piper and Leo," she finished. "Which means you and your sister are the only ones out of all your friends that are one hundred percent Greek. That's right, Jackson. You're at the wrong camp."

* * *

Mystery POV

_I was weaker than I had ever been in my life, yet somehow I managed to crawl across the dirty floor of this filthy environment. Why did I choose to come here? I could have gone to the house, or that big city._

_No. It is best when there is no one around._

_Once I have claimed all the seven's souls, I can return. What's more, the so-called warriors won't have their pathetic little heroes to save them again._

_Three children of the big three's powers coursing through my veins would make me nearly unstoppable._

_But I had to start small. First, the power of the war god._

_As I turned the corner and peered into the clearing, I swore under my breath. He was not alone. He had two of his small and useless children by his side, armed, no less. This was going to be harder than I thought._

_The more I sat here and planned out my moves, the more time I was wasting. I could be claiming a soul right now._

_My mind started to wonder. If I took the shape-shifter, could I turn into animals as well? That could possibly help me find a decent form that wasn't this hazy image._

_I got distracted again. Curse my hopeless brain._

_And with that, I leapt into the grassy area. The little girl screamed and the boy turned his arrow on me. Once he got a glimpse of my ugly face, he yelped and dropped the weapon._

_I pushed past both of them and pounced on the man. He never saw me coming._

_I turned into a mouse and ran out of the way, leaving the children confused and Frank Zhang's terrified thoughts running through my mind._

* * *

Jessica POV

"Guys, give it up. We're just kids! There's nothing we can do." I told them.

"Don't say that!" yelled Collin, standing up in anger. "That's the fifth time you've said something negative, and it's starting to make me angry!"

All the other customers in the small café turned to look at us. Helena gripped Collin's arm and pulled him back down. Then she said, "He's got a point. We're almost the same age as our parents were when they defeated Gaea. We do have a chance, we just need to find where to start."

Then I saw them. Emily Marie and Sammy were hurrying over to our table, both paler than a ghost.

"What's the matter?" I asked them.

"Daddy was eaten by a monster!" wailed Emily Marie as she started sobbing.

We all looked at Sammy, speechless. Was this little kid stories or was there truth in what she was saying.

"It's true," he said. "Frank was kidnapped."


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: These last few weeks have reminded me that I actually do have a life, so I apologize for my late updates. Thanks to everyone who hasn't given up hope on this story yet AKA my reviewers, favoriters, and followers (but mostly my reviewers :D)**

**This chapter came a lot sooner than I wanted it to, but I just felt the need to write it. So this chapter is dedicated to Charlina (guest), redisawesome, Mila-is-a-bookworm-101, girlwiththedarkhair, and kat callan, who all saw this coming a mile away.**

**Disclaimer: These characters are not mine. If they were, the House of Hades probably wouldn't be out for another three years (if I work on books like I work on FanFiction).**

* * *

Hazel POV

I kept my head down and tried my hardest to concentrate on making lunch, but it wasn't working. Part of the problem was that I actually hate making lunch, but most of the problem was Leo.

"So, do you still have those sweet metal talent things?"

I took a deep breath and tried not to get too mad. "Yes, and I'm going to throw tons of diamonds at you if you don't shut up."

"But wasn't there some sort of curse that went along with it?"

"Yes, but as a reward for the Giant War, the gods took away my curse."

Leo stood up from the table and came behind the counter. He kept walking until he was standing right next to me. And I mean _right_ next to me.

"So what's your deal?" he murmurmed into my ear, as if there was someone else in the house (which there wasn't).

I edged away slightly. "What do you mean?"

"We made a deal," he continued. "When he turned fifteen, we were going to tell him. His sixteenth birthday is in a few weeks, and he still has no idea."

I suddenly realized what he was talking about, and my stomach started churning. The fact that Leo was standing about two inches away from me didn't help. I hadn't felt like this in years.

"Look," I sighed. "Do you want to tell him? What do you think he'll do? He'll kill us! And with so much going on right now, I don't want to have to break the news to him. But if you want to, be my guest."

"I don't want to do it, but what choice do we have? He needs to know sometime."

"You want to know the truth, Leo?" I asked. "I'm embarrassed. There, I said it. What we did should have never happened, and I'm ashamed that it did. So I'd rather not say anything. Not to mention there's the minor problem of Frank to worry about."

Leo just shook his head and walked away a bit. Then, with his back to me, he said, "Collin is our son. We should be proud of him."

* * *

Collin POV

I stopped dead in my tracks. There I was, standing right next to the kitchen door, ready to lead Helena, Jessica, Sammy, and Emily Marie in to tell Mom what had happened, when I heard her talking. She said something about being embarrassed and I started to wonder exactly what she and Leo had been doing in there.

Then Leo said it. The four words that changed my life forever.

_"Collin is our son."_

I was vaguely aware of Helena placing a hand on my shoulder and Jessica gasping and Sammy saying "What?" but I tuned them out.

It all made sense. My looks, the strange glances I got from the other seven, the fact that Leo would never properly look me in the eye . . .

It didn't even occur to me to wonder why or how I was Leo's son. I only knew that I was. I had Hazel's eyes, but beyond that I looked like a fifteen-year-old Leo.

And then a feeling of anger and despair washed over me. I was suddenly warm with fury at Leo and my mom for not telling me. I pulled away from Helena and burst into the kitchen.

"WHAT THE HELL?" I shouted. "Is this some kind of joke?"

Mom screamed and Leo paled. Helena and Jess both ran in after me and tried to pull me back, but I resisted.

"Collin, you don't understand - " started Hazel, but I cut her off.

"I think I understand perfectly fine! Leo is my dad, not Frank! It's always been that way and you _never bothered to tell me_ _that!"_

"This isn't how we wanted you to find out," said Leo quietly.

"I don't care how you wanted me to find out! What about Sammy and Emily Marie and Dad? I've spent all my life growing attached to them, and the only true family I have is you two! Do you have any idea how hurt I am? Do you have any idea what you just did to me? You're the one who doesn't understand, Mom. Maybe next time you should consider actually telling the truth."

I ran past my friends, who all looked shocked. I tore down the hallway and flew into my room, where I slammed the door and collapsed onto my bed, tears running down my face.


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: I realize that the last chapter was really short, so I wrote a long one and updated it as soon as I could.**

**To Mila-is-a-bookworm-101: I don't know, I never thought about that. I guess...Collena? Yeah, I like that. I ship them too!**

* * *

Helena POV

I've never seen Collin like this. Sure, he was mad when Ethan accidentally shot Leo, but that was nothing compared to this.

I didn't blame him, though. I was still in utter shock myself. I couldn't imagine what poor Collin was feeling.

"Is this true?" demanded Sammy. Emily Marie stood next to him and glared at Hazel and Leo. It occurred to me that they were angry for realizing that Collin was only their half-brother.

Hazel just nodded. Sammy's hands curled into fists and he shook with rage.

"Sammy, please - "

"No!" he roared and stormed out of the house. Emily Marie followed.

That left Jessica and I awkwardly standing with Hazel and Leo. "Um, I'm going to find Collin," I told them.

I knocked softly on his door when I arrived, pretending not to hear his quiet crying.

"Go away."

I sighed and tried the doorknob, but it was locked. "Let me in, Collin."

He suddenly opened the door and I was face to face with him.

"I thought you were Mom," he said. "Sorry."

"No problem. Can I come in?"

He just nodded and moved out of the way, wiping his vibrant gold eyes.

I opened my mouth to ask if he was okay, but then I realized it was a stupid question and I shut my mouth.

Collin sat down on his bed, and I cautiously sat next to him. "So," I said.

He looked up at me and sighed. "Don't say anything."

"Why not?"

He shook his head. "Just . . . I don't know. Everything's so crazy, and I don't know what to think."

I nervously took his hand and whispered in his ear, "It'll be okay."

Collin bolted onto his feet, shaking. "You don't get it. It _won't _be okay. Everything is ruined now. What am I supposed to do? Ouranos has Da - I mean Frank."

That's when I realized that in all the hurry, we never got around to tell Hazel about that.

"All right, listen up. I have a plan."

He raised an eyebrow. "Oh yeah?"

"Yeah. But first we have to go find everyone. And that includes my idiot brother."

We stepped into the kitchen to find Jessica alone.

"Where did Hazel and Leo go?" asked Collin.

Jess looked up in surprise. "Oh, I don't know. Somewhere. What are you guys doing?"

"We're going to reunite the six," I said. As soon as I said that, I realized how stupid that sounded. In my head, it seemed cool. If there was a so-called "seven", why couldn't there be a six? It made sense to me.

Guess it just goes to show how hopelessly inexperienced I was.

Suddenly it hit me: there was no way I could do this. What was I thinking? Ouranos was planning on taking over the world, and here I am, putting together a happy little group of sort-of demigods. My plan was to go on some awesome quest and get Frank back and beat Ouranos. But it was foolish. I could hardly hold up a sword, and my twelve-year old brother looks better in armor than I do (which is really sad).

But I wasn't alone. I had Collin and Sammy on my side, and they were full members of the legion: seasoned warriors. And no matter how much I wished I didn't, I had Ethan, who really wasn't that bad.

In short, all the guys of our little group can do stuff. Plus Emily Marie, who was apparently allowed to use weapons.

See? Even an eight year old is better than me.

_Stop the pity party, Helena,_ I told myself. _It doesn't matter how good you are. Go save the world!_

"Come on, guys," I told the two of them. "Let's go find everyone."

* * *

We only made it ten yards before we were stopped by Jason Grace and my parents.

"What's the matter, Dad?" asked Jessica. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

He just swallowed and said, "They took Piper."

"_What?_" cried Jessica. "Not her too!" Turning to Collin and I, she said, "How could Ouranos have traveled so fast?"

Dad laughed nervously. "Jessica, how do you know Ouranos is behind this? That's a pretty wild guess, if you ask me."

Jess opened her mouth, then closed it again. "I . . . "

"It is a pretty wild guess, Jessica," said Collin, coming to the rescue. "I suppose you're just desperate to get your mom back.

A look of pure confusion was clearly painted across Jessica's face, but she just nodded.

"Hey, Dad?" I asked.

"Yeah?"

"Did you see Sammy and Emily Marie go by?"

Now it was Percy's turn to look confused. "Yeah, they went towards camp . . . and they looked pretty angry . . . Why do you - "

He never got to finish his sentence. I grabbed Collin by the wrist and the three of us bolted for Camp Jupiter. Our feet pounded the ground, kicking up dirt everywhere. Jess accidentally knocked over a hot dog stand (why were there hot dog stands in New Rome?) and I ran into about four pedestrians.

And then we came to a halt when we saw one stranger and one very familiar teenager in front of us. A curly-haired brunette and a blond pest.

My little brother had found himself a girlfriend.

"Um - " started Collin, but I butted in.

"Scuse me, _jerk, _but you're in our way."

Ethan turned around and rolled his eyes when he saw who it was.

"C'mon, Helena, he's one of us. He should come with us," muttered Collin.

I thought about it. Sure, Ethan was a part of our little pathetic "six" group (like it or not) but a part of me wanted to do something cool without my brother doing it better than me. All I wanted to do was prove that I was just as good as him.

I looked at Jessica, and she nodded.

"Fine," I spat. "Ethan, follow us. We're going to find Emily Marie and Sammy and get out of here."

"Ok-kay . . . but what about - "

The brunette chick stepped forward and stuck out her hand. "Lexie Stoll."

"Uh . . . hi." I shook her hand. She had a firm grip.

"I'm going to assume two things," Lexie said. "One, you're Helena Jackson, Percy Jackson's daughter and Ethan's brother. Two, I'm coming with you. No buts."

"No way." Collin shook his head. "We don't even know who you are!"

"It doesn't matter who I am. I'm coming with you and that's that."

* * *

Leo POV

I ran towards the camp, but it was too late. They were gone.

Hazel stepped up behind me. "Where do you think they went?"

I shrugged. "They could be anywhere. I can't believe they just left like that . . . they could get killed out there. I mean, half of them still don't know how to hold a sword properly."

Hazel sighed. "_You_ don't know how to hold a sword properly."

I grinned. "True."

One thing was still on my mind. I couldn't help but wonder if all this was my fault. Maybe if I hadn't revealed that Collin was my son, none of this would have happened. Collin would still be here, along with all the others. It scared me to think of what awaited them in the real world.

I couldn't believe all this. I was reliving my teenage years all over again. Terrible things were happening, and I was to blame. Couldn't something be someone else's fault for a change?

"Did you hear that Frank and Piper have both gone missing?"

I looked at Hazel in alarm. There were tears in her eyes.

"_What?_"

She nodded. "You know what I think? I think that one by one, all the seven are going to disappear."

I didn't say anything. The thought was very terrifying and disturbing.

"We have to stick together, Leo," she said. "We have no choice."


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: As of right now, I have exactly 10,000 views. I find that both kinda funny and amazing. Thanks guys! You all are awesome!**

* * *

Percy POV

"Well, there's really only one thing we can do," said Jason, looking at all of us.

"Hide?" asked Leo.

"Go find Frank? And Piper?" asked Hazel.

"Track down our idiot children?" asked Annabeth.

Jason, Annabeth, Leo, Hazel, and I were sitting in the house alone, trying to figure out what to do. So far we hadn't made much progress.

"No," said Jason. "Send someone we trust after our children to help them."

"_Help _them? With what?" demanded Hazel.

"With . . . whatever they're doing."

"Who are we supposed to send, Great Leader Jason Grace?" I asked. "And who died and made you in charge?"

He glared at me. "That's not funny. You're welcome to say something."

I didn't have anything to say to that. To be honest, I had no idea who we should send. And yes, though I didn't want to admit it, Jason's idea was a good one.

Clarisse was too violent and frightening, Travis couldn't be trusted, Reyna was steamed at all of us for no reason, and Octavian was just a creep who had gone missing. Who on earth could do this?

And then the answer came to me. It was so obvious, I felt like a complete idiot.

"Nico di Angelo."

Everyone whipped their head towards me.

"My brother?" asked Hazel incredulously. "Does anyone even know where he is?"

"And can he be trusted?" added Leo, who apparently still had a slight grudge with the son of Hades.

"It doesn't matter. Do you have any better ideas?"

Silence.

"That's what I thought."

* * *

Sammy POV

"Um, Sammy - ?"

I kept my mouth shut for fear of saying something absolutely horrible to my sister.

The two of us were storming through camp, passing tens of hundreds of demigods and legacies. No one gave me a second look, but they did glance at Emily Marie a little weirdly.

I heard the voice I never wanted to hear again coming from the distance. It was faint, but I could tell what it was saying.

"Sammy! Sammy! Sammy!"

Calling my name a thousand times wouldn't make me turn around.

Don't ask why I was so ticked at Collin. In fact, I wasn't quite sure either. He didn't really do anything. I think I was just scared of what to say to my best friend in the entire world who was no longer related to me like I thought he was.

The real person I was mad at was Leo. Leo Valdez was officially the cruelest person to walk this earth. How could he possibly think it was okay to not tell anyone about this? It just seemed plain cowardly to me. He was embarrassed, and his embarrassment was slowly killing everyone around him.

"Oh, gods," I muttered. They had caught up to me.

"Sammy, what are you - "

"Shut up!" I yelled. "I don't want to hear a single thing you have to say! I'm leaving, and there's nothing you can do about it."

"But we're leaving too!" said Helena. I stopped and Emily Marie heeled like a dog.

Turning around, I asked, "What did you say?"

"That's right," scowled Collin. "I don't know why you're so pissed at me, but the rest of us are going to go find Frank and Piper and kill Ouranos."

I snorted. "Please. I can't believe you think you can do that on your own."

"But we can't," said Jessica. "Not without you."

Looking into Jessica's blue eyes, I caved in. There was something mysterious and captivating about that girl, and looking back on it, I'm pretty sure she charmspeaked me without realizing it. She must have gotten that from her mother.

Her mother, who was missing. And so was my dad. Gods, why was I even debating this? I should have jumped at the chance to get my father back.

"All right," I said. "I'll do it."

Emily Marie started jumping up and down. "Can I come too? Please please please please _please?_"

"I don't know, Em. It sounds kind of dangerous," I told her.

"I love dangerous things! Please please please please please please please please please?"

"Does she ever shut up?" asked Ethan.

"No," muttered Collin.

"All right!" yelled Helena. "We'll take her with us. But does she have to be _so freaking obnoxious?_"

Jessica laughed. "Yeah, who knows? With that kind of annoyablilty, maybe she's Leo's kid too."

Collin glared at her. His golden eyes seemed to ignite with fire as he stared daggers at Jessica Grace. Jess turned bright red and stared at her feet. "I mean, um - yeah. Never mind."

"Hang on a sec," said Ethan. "Why would Emily be Leo's son? And why is Collin so - whoa. Does that mean . . . ?"

Helena shoved him and he fell into a huge mud puddle, covering him in brown sludge. The girl named Lexie laughed so hard, she nearly started to cry. And then soon everyone was cracking up for no reason, and we completely forgot about the mission at hand.

I don't know. Maybe traveling with these guys wouldn't be so horrible after all.

* * *

Nico POV

I was running through the woods, trying not to trip over anything, when it came. Something I never thought someone like me would receive.

For the first time in twenty years, I had recieved an Iris Message.

Really, though, I couldn't have gotten it at a worse time. I had just shadow traveled out of the Underworld after angering a couple hellhounds, and they were on my tail.

"Who are you?" I yelled at the shimmering rainbow. Luckily, it followed me as I tore through the dense undergrowth.

"Hey, Nico! It's your old pal Percy! May I ask, what exactly are you doing?"

"No way," I muttered. Why was Percy Jackson messaging me?

"Long story!" I told him. "What do you want?"

I couldn't turn my head to look at him for fear I would get distracted and then eaten, but I could hear his voice.

"Where are you?" he asked. "I was wondering if you could do us a favor."

"I'm in a forest not far out from Los Angeles. What do you need?"

"Well, it's kind of a really long story . . . "


End file.
